When faced with a changing job market, you may want to take a look at other options for advancing your career. You have always been keen on staying up to date on the latest trends in the job market, and now that you’re faced with making a leap to another field or into entrepreneurship, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at something that has always interested you: association manager. What does a community association manager do, and is it a good career for someone looking to strike out alone? Read these three fast facts about the position to see if it is a contender for your start-up.
1. Versatile Employment Opportunities
One of the coolest things about being a community association manager is your ability to work for many different types of groups. Almost any association that deals with residential management is a potential employer. This includes:
- Condominium associations
- Homeowners associations
- Master planned communities
- Cooperatives
If you have a community association management license, you have quite a few opportunities to find work, including opening your own business that deals exclusively with resident management.
2. Challenging and Rewarding Engagements
Dealing with residents in their communities is a challenging yet rewarding experience. A community association manager serves the residents and acts as a liaison between them and the governing boards (HOA, POA, etc.). This puts a manager in a unique position of maintaining cooperation and peace through some difficult times. Therefore, to be an effective association manager, you have to be able to handle sticky situations.
3. Financial Know-How a Must
At the heart of it, a community association manager has to be able to perform specific tasks that ensure the community is kept up. Some of the most common functions a manager performs include:
- Maintenance of the common areas (parks, ponds, pools, etc.)
- Collection of assessments and dues regularly
- Preparation of financial statements and budgets
- Complaint resolution
- Negotiation of services with vendors, developers, etc.
As a community association manager, you are going to have to be financially savvy, highly organized and able to keep up with multiple projects.
If you are thinking of setting up your own business, a community association manager would be an excellent way to cut ties with your 9:00 to 5:00. Performing these functions inside an office is not necessarily required. What is needed is a driven, organized and diligent individual who can handle finances and work towards resolving conflict and making the lives of residents better within their communities.